GRACE

Sometimes grace happens in very obvious ways during my days, and today was one of those days. And it happened in such a beautiful way that I decided it was blog-worthy...

Today I went shopping at Sharp Shopper. And sometimes the kids behave in ways that make me so proud, and sometimes, well, they behave in ways that make me not very proud at all. And yes, today happened to be a "not very proud at all" day. It started out good, and then towards the end, Annaliese was fussing and squirming to be let down, but when I put her down, she would wander off, and I caught up with her one time just as she was grabbing an elderly lady's cart (the lady was walking with a cane to beat) and starting to push it away, so I decided nada mas walking for her. And the cart was getting so full that Elliot could no longer ride in the back, so he and Vincent were pushing the cart together, and ignoring their mother's command to NOT push it unless I was ready, hence pushing it into boxes in the aisle, causing it to stop promptly, and consequently Elliot's head gets bumped on the cart handle, causing him to cry WAY TOO LOUDLY for a grocery store, and beg over and over for his mother to hold him, but his mother is holding a very squirmy Annaliese in her arms who then begins crying loudly too...oh, the tenseness in my body, the embarrassment of having 3 squirrely screamy children in a grocery store...

And then there is this sweet elderly couple who has been observing me and my 3 children for a while. The gentleman said at one point, "Isn't it fun to be a mom?", and I wasn't sure if he was sarcastic or not, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and said "Yes, most of the time". And at another point he said "You're a strong woman". Hmmm, I don't here that very often, so that was nice. But this was all before the melt-down moment. And I'm always a bit wary of how elderly people respond to children who are misbehaving, and presume that they are judging my parenting by how my children behave in public.

So after the melt-down's began, I decided no more grocery shopping for this grumpy loud group, and went to check-out. Shortly thereafter, this same sweet couple came up behind me, and the lady says softly to me, looking me directly in the eyes, "You have 3 sweet children. And I like to see them active. There are a lot of children who aren't active. Don't be discouraged". Exactly those words. I could hardly believe my ears. I said "thank you" and meant it from the bottom of my heart. And then the cashier lady gave me a tissue to wipe Annaliese's snotty nose, all runny from crying.

And it continued. I was out in the parking lot, and the gentleman who was in charge of taking the grocery carts back inside saw me with 3 little children and a cart full of bags, and said "Let me help you, I've a little girl and I know how much work it can be", and held my cart so it wouldn't roll away and handed the bags to me as I put them in my car. Thank you Sir, for being understanding and helpful and kind!

Oh Grace. You were so beautiful and perfectly timed today. THANK YOU!